Never Gonna Give You Up
"Never Gonna Give You Up" is a single by Rick Astley, released in 1987, written and produced by Stock Aitken Waterman. The song was released as the first single from his debut album, Whenever You Need Somebody(1987). The song was a worldwide number-one hit, initially in the singer's native United Kingdom in 1987, where it stayed at the top of the chart for five weeks and was the best-selling single of that year. It eventually topped the charts in 25 countries, including the United States and West Germany.5 The song won Best British Single at the 1988 Brit Awards. In 1990, Nick Lowe quoted from the song and called it "ghastly" in the lyrics to "All Men Are Liars," a song on his album Party of One. In 2004, "Never Gonna Give You Up" was voted number 28 in 50 Most Awesomely Bad Songs... Ever by VH1. The music video for the song has become the basis for the "Rickrolling" Internet meme. In 2008, Astley won the MTV Europe Music Award for Best Act Ever with the song, as a result of collective voting from thousands of people on the internet, due to the popular phenomenon of Rickrolling. It was also featured as a downloadable track for the Rock Band series. The song is considered Astley's signature song and it is often played at the end of Astley's live concerts. During a live performance, usually on the last verse, Rick sometimes shouts out to the audience that he is feeling "bloody marvellous" or in other countries that he is feeling "fantastic" after the line "And if you ask me how I'm feeling" to have some banter with the audience. Production "Never Gonna Give You Up" was recorded at the PWL Studios in South London, England. The song's basslines were produced using a Yamaha DX7 digital synthesizer, while the drums and sequencing were handled by a Linn 9000. Other equipment used include a Roland Juno 106 analog synthesizer, and Yamaha Rev5 and Rev7 reverberators.6 Original success On 12 March 1988, "Never Gonna Give You Up" reached number one in the American Billboard Hot 1007 after having been played by resident DJ, Larry Levan, at the Paradise Garage in 1987.8 The single topped the charts in 25 countries worldwide.5 Rickrolling Main article: Rickrolling "Never Gonna Give You Up" is the subject of a popular Internet prank known as "rickrolling" involving misleading links (commonly shortened URLs) redirecting to the song's music video.9 Originally started by 4chan, by May 2007, the practice had achieved notoriety on the Internet, and it increased in popularity after its use as a 2008 April Fools' Day joke by various media companies and websites, including YouTube rickrolling all of its featured videos on that day and a website allowing people to rickroll their friends' phones.10 In "a couple of weeks," about 13 million people had been tricked into watching Astley's video, the BBC reported on 1 April 2008. "I think it's just one of those odd things where something gets picked up and people run with it," Astley told the Los Angeles Times in late March 2008, adding: "That's what's brilliant about the Internet."1112 Astley also appeared in the 2008 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade interrupting a song performed by those on a float promoting the Cartoon Network program Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends with a lipsynched performance of "Never Gonna Give You Up." There were reports that despite the video garnering millions of hits on YouTube, Astley earned almost no money from the online phenomenon, receiving only $12 USD in royalties from YouTube for his performance share, as of August 2010,13 but Astley denied those reports in 2016.14 Cover versions * In 1997, French band 2Be3 covered the song under the name "Toujours là pour toi", which had a great success in France (No. 4) and Belgium (Wallonia) (No. 12).15 * In 1999, an Italian cover entitled "Non ti lascerò" was made by Fiorello.16 * Eurobeat artist Kevin Johnson covered the song in 2004 for the album Super Eurobeat 149.17 * A group of London dance producers called The Rickrollerz made a house music cover version of "Never Gonna Give You Up"18 In May 2008, the track entered the UK Club Charts at no. 22. * In August 2007, internet celebrity and singer Tay Zonday covered the song.19 * On 25 November 2008, Barry Manilow released a version of the song on his The Greatest Songs of the Eighties album.20 * In 2008, Ashley Tisdale released a cover of the song, along with three other songs of the 80s.21 Music video On 24 October 2009, the music video for "Never Gonna Give You Up" was uploaded to YouTube. It has more than 360 million views as of October 2017.22 Track listings ; 7" single # "Never Gonna Give You Up" (7" Vocal Mix) – 3:32 # "Never Gonna Give You Up" (Instrumental) – 3:30 ; 12" maxi # "Never Gonna Give You Up" (Cake mix) – 5:46 # "Never Gonna Give You Up" (Instrumental) – 6:19 # "Never Gonna Give You Up" – 3:32 # "Never Gonna Give You Up" (Escape to New York mix) – 7:01 # "Never Gonna Give You Up" (Escape from Newton mix) – 6:23 ; 12" maxi # "Never Gonna Give You Up" (Cake mix) – 5:48 # "Never Gonna Give You Up" (Instrumental) – 3:30 # "Never Gonna Give You Up" – 3:32 ; 12" single # "Never Gonna Give You Up" (Escape from Newton mix) – 6:30 # "Never Gonna Give You Up" (Escape to New York mix) – 7:00 Personnel * Written and produced by: Stock, Aitken & Waterman * Engineer: Mark McGuire, Bill Gee, Mike Duffy, Jon Herroon * Tape Operator: Burni Adams * Mixed by: ** Escape from Newton mix: Mixmaster Pete Hammond ** Escape to New York mix: The Extra Beat Boys Charts and certifications | Year-end charts Certifications and salesedit |} Category:Music